No, it's nonsense, it's rubbish!" he added resolutely.

"And how could such an atrocious thing come into my head?
What filthy things my heart is capable of.

Yes, filthy above all, disgusting, loathsome, loathsome!--and for a whole month I've been...." But no words, no exclamations, could express his agitation.

The feeling of intense repulsion, which had begun to oppress and torture his heart while he was on his way to the old woman, had by now reached such a pitch and had taken such a definite form that he did not know what to do with himself to escape from his wretchedness.

He walked along the pavement like a drunken man, regardless of the passers-by, and jostling against them, and only came to his senses when he was in the next street.